FIRST RATE
FIRST GRADE
South McKeel
Academy
Lakeland, FL
M o n d a y,
March 7, 2016
Issue 27
Hello Wildcats!
A Note From Ms. Futch:
For students to learn to be good writers, it’s important
to have a lot of one-on-one work with the student, as
well as a lot of modeling and examples for them to
learn from. I do my best to work with your child oneon-one, when possible. It’s also important for them to
feel they have “ownership” and input into their work.
Scaffolding allows their input along with guidance; I try
to help them, without “over-taking” their work. With
scaffolding, I will typically see students gradually
become more independent in their writing and begin to
write in an “organized” way, on their own. I will have
their “thinking maps” and their initial writing, attached
to their final papers. Students tend to write better
from experiences they have actually had, and seem to
enjoy it more as well. Any time students can write to
tell about experiences, with some help from you,
keeping in mind the above…(not to overtake their
work, but with guidance for a topic sentence, detail
sentences, and a closing sentence), they will grow as
writers. Learning to become good writers takes a lot of
practice and is a “process”, so be patient. First Grade
is a time for a lot of “foundational groundwork” in the
core academic areas. Together, I believe, we can build
them for strong academic and social success. 
Weekly Academic Focuses
Reading: Tomas Rivera
Focus skill: character
Phonics: qu and wh
Writing: Pre-writing
Math: Subtracting Strategies / Geometric Shapes
Science/Social Studies: Bugs / St. Patrick’s Day
Homework:
Please make sure you are reading at least 5 books per week
and writing it in your reading log.
Reading Logs Due: Friday, April 1st.
Reminder:*Homework this year will consist of Moby Max
Reading, Language (coming soon), and Math Lessons. We are
suggesting at least one lesson in each area every week. Until
the Moby Max Reading and Language is available, the weekly
reading passage sent home is the reading homework. If you
know your child needs extra practice in these or other areas,
such as handwriting, writing complete sentences with correct
punctuation, capital letters, spelling practice, etc., then you
should work with your child accordingly.
Moby Max user names and passwords are in the front of your
child’s agenda.
Robust
Vocabulary
Lesson 15
Be sure to reference
the email with the
definitions!
glimpse
pleasant
strain
grand
skyscraper
observant
quit
quick
quiz
whiz
which
when
arm
card
who
there
DATES:
3/8:
Bok Tower Field
Trip Forms and
Money Due Today
SMA Spring
Extravaganza at
Victory Church 6:30
3/10:
JBurns’ Spirit Day
3/16:
Bok Tower Gardens
Field Trip
3/17:
Chick-fil-A Spirit
Night
3/18:
.
Yearbooks are on sale for $30.00. This year all orders
must be placed through the Lifetouch website.
Online Ordering Information: YBPay.lifetouch.com
Yearbook Id Code: 8654016
Deadline: April 8, 2016
Spelling Words
Wish List:
 Seasonal Treasure Box Items
 Tissues
WORD POWER: Words to Remember
about – books – by – family – grew – read – work - writing
Please make sure your child is able to read the word in context and knows what it means.
Thanks for your support! – Ms. Futch 
Spring Fling
Thank You, PTO!
3/21-3/25
SPRING BREAK!
4/8:
No School for
Students Today
Deadline for
ordering a
Yearbook
(More information
on left…)